Neutral territory

A neutral territory is a territory (not a sovereign state) that is not an integral part of any state (neither independent, nor dependent on a single state, nor colonized or under protectorate, nor a concession), and yet is not terra nullius, but is the object of an agreement under international law between at least two parties (usually bordering states and/or their colonisers et cetera) that neither shall establish, at least for the duration of the agreement's validity, effective control over it.

When it is a delimited zone bordering at least one of the partners, the term neutral zone applies. This had been the case in the past for:

• Neutral Moresnet, a 19th-century neutral zone between the United Kingdom of the Netherlands (and later Belgium) and Prussia (and later the German Empire).
• in the colonial era, the neutral zone between Thailand and French Indochina, 25 kilometres wide (roughly 15.5 miles) on the east bank of the Mekong, was placed under French control but formally remained under Thai sovereignty
• the Saudi-Iraqi neutral zone
• the Saudi-Kuwaiti neutral zone
• the Trans-Karakoram Tract

In many cases, a neutral zone is also a demilitarized zone.

Sources and references

• WorldStatesmen
• Catholic Encyclopaedia- Indo-china